A group of investors have bought big in Midtown Manhattan, acquiring the 153,000-square-foot Beekman Tower Hotel for $82 million. The investors plan to convert the property, a 174-room art deco hotel, into furnished corporate apartment suites.

Photo credit: Joe Woolhead

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

New York—A group of investors have bought big in Midtown Manhattan, acquiring the 153,000-square-foot Beekman Tower Hotel for $82 million. The investors plan to convert the property, a 174-room art deco hotel, into furnished corporate apartment suites.

The investors include Silverstein Properties and its partners Fisher Brothers, Capstone Equities, Migdal Insurance Co. and Arkin Holdings. The new owners plan to spend about $25 million to renovate the units and other interior spaces, and will also pay close attention to preserving the building’s facade, which was designated a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1998.

Designed by John Mead Howells and opened in 1929 as the Panhellenic Tower, the two-building structure originally offered low-cost housing to young, college-educated women who were entering the New York City workforce in record numbers during the jazz age. The hotel and restaurant have since hosted many celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Huey Lewis and Jennifer Hudson.

The converted property will feature 54 studios, 118 one-bedrooms and two two-bedrooms that offer stays of 30 days or longer. Fifty of the new apartments at Beekman Tower will open in September 2013, while the remaining 124 will open by the beginning of 2014.

“This is a product type that we already operate on the West Side of Manhattan, so we thought that was the best use of this site, given its location and the nature and the size of the units,” Marty Burger, co-CEO of Silverstein, says.

Once the conversion is complete, the property will be a Silver Suites Residences at Beekman Tower. It’s the latest venture under Silverstein’s “Silver Suites” brand, which includes 107 residences at Silver Towers at 606 42nd Street and 60 pre-built and furnished offices at 7 World Trade Center.